If "boys" is okay because "boys" and "men" are both humans, then why isn't "chicks" okay because both "chicks" and "female homo sapiens" are both animals?

because the latter is dehumanizing, presumably.

i once knew a lefty feminist who used the term "chicks" to refer to women. it confused the living hell out of me.

I'm a lefty-ish feminist-ish person. I think taking your husband's name is sexist. I think a lot of marriage-related traditions are sexist. I think a lot of the ways that men speak to and about women are sexist.

And I use the term chick all the time. My dearest female friend, a greater leftist and feminist than I, is not offended by the term. I found it interesting that the lecture I got about using that term was from a man.

Chick is just old-fashioned slang. I wouldn't recommend someone speak that way at work, but I see nothing wrong with saying "this chick I met ...."

I certainly wouldn't put chick in the same category of "offensive" as a lot of the words I see used for females, e.g. b-i-t-c-h, ho (or is it hoe?), whore, female private part. People use those terms all the time. The first two are even used when someone isn't intending to insult women.

If a man's most un-gentlemanly attribute is referring to women as "chicks," I'd say that's a pretty great man (or boy, or guy, or dude).

So tell me more about this expectations of how we the men ought to behave.

If "boys" is okay because "boys" and "men" are both humans, then why isn't "chicks" okay because both "chicks" and "female homo sapiens" are both animals?

because the latter is dehumanizing, presumably.

i once knew a lefty feminist who used the term "chicks" to refer to women. it confused the living hell out of me.

I'm a lefty-ish feminist-ish person. I think taking your husband's name is sexist. I think a lot of marriage-related traditions are sexist. I think a lot of the ways that men speak to and about women are sexist.

And I use the term chick all the time. My dearest female friend, a greater leftist and feminist than I, is not offended by the term. I found it interesting that the lecture I got about using that term was from a man.

Chick is just old-fashioned slang. I wouldn't recommend someone speak that way at work, but I see nothing wrong with saying "this chick I met ...."

I certainly wouldn't put chick in the same category of "offensive" as a lot of the words I see used for females, e.g. b-i-t-c-h, ho (or is it hoe?), whore, female private part. People use those terms all the time. The first two are even used when someone isn't intending to insult women.

If a man's most un-gentlemanly attribute is referring to women as "chicks," I'd say that's a pretty great man (or boy, or guy, or dude).

So tell me more about this expectations of how we the men ought to behave.

Well you're probably kidding but - where to start? Your gender needs a lot of work.

Logged

When you have somebody dying because they are poor and black or poor and white or because of whatever they are ... that erases everything that's great about this country.